Donald's team - Zion, Shelden, JJ, Singler, Kyrie
Jason's team - Shane, JWill, Johnny, Elton, Dunleavy
Sam's team - Grant, Christian, Bobby, Marvin, Nolan
With Zion and Shelden offering an impervious defense, JJ and Kyle's shooting, and Kyrie leading the play, that team easily tops the others for me. (And of course Zion and Shelden weren't too shabby on offense, either. )
Boozer, Scheyer and Jones off the bench seals it up.
Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."
Laettner would smartly step outside the arc and draw Battier away from the lane by draining a few threes. Assuming Battier could still contain Laettner, which is a big if, that just frees Hurley to play two-man ball with Grant, while Bagley and Smith run screens. Nobody is stopping Grant if he’s given that scenario to be creative. I’ll take Sam’s team.
I’m surprised Sam’s team isn’t getting more love. It has the all around best player in Duke history on it — that he was taken 3rd is a crime!
Edit: sam’s team. Talking about GH.
Last edited by bundabergdevil; 09-08-2021 at 10:12 PM.
Donald's team. You have the all-time Duke leading scorer, the all-time Duke leading rebounder, the guys who will end up the first and third best all-time Duke NBA players, and then the worst starter is a Final Four MVP. JJ and Zion are too perfect a combo.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
I also think enough time has passed (crap) that people are starting to underrate that squad. Now I know how all the 60s/70s/80s fans felt 15 years ago. Grant Hill is an all time great, not just at Duke (as was Laettner). I think I'm starting to be convinced my hesitance at voting for the Zion squad was warranted.
Edit: To me the main thing that drags that squad down is Bagley. He just isn't at the same level as the other guys in those starting 5s. Honestly the second team isn't getting much hype, but J-Will, Shane, Elton, and Johnny Dawkins is nasty. With a splash of Dunleavy for good measure.
Exactly, which is why I picked Sam’s team. There’s just no way that I’m picking against Laettner, Hill, and Hurley as seniors. And there’s absolutely no one on that list that is more clutch than Christian. I’ll take clutchness, bada**ness and experience over athleticism (even Zion’s) any day of the week.
I am loathe to pick any team that doesn’t have Johnny Dawkins on it. I always loved his game. Smooth graceful and a surpassing athleticism that no other Duke player including in my opinion, Zion and Grant Hill, has matched.
But this debate tilts on the six man comparisons in my opinion. Boozer for all his contributions which were substantial doesn’t bring anything extra to his team that isn’t provided by the front line bigs. So this comes down to an argument between Luol Deng and Danny ferry. Tough tough choice. Against college competition both Deng and Ferry Could adjust to any defense. Actually I think Ferry was the better college player by a good bit. He was a critical reason Duke went to three final fours in his four years. But something about the complementary nature of Deng particularly on a team with Grant Hill Tilts the scales to Sam’s team. Further if we’re talking about the college game you want a college point guard.The list of great college point cards begins withBobby Hurley.
Finally you really should look at front office management as well. I don’t know who the Sam dude is but I’ve heard Jason‘s losses in Vegas are legendary. That front office has to be an absolute mess. Ain’t no way I’m voting for any team Jason Evans Selects. I want luck on my side Not someone who is drawing to an inside straight.
Last edited by CameronBlue; 09-09-2021 at 06:35 AM.
“Those two kids, they’re champions,” Krzyzewski said of his senior leaders. “They’re trying to teach the other kids how to become that, and it’s a long road to become that.”
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
I'm guessing NSDukeFan just looked at the poll, which only lists the starters. If you (NSDukeFan) go back and look at the first post in the thread, you can see the full teams including the bench. Langdon was picked by Sam (as CB&B noted), and Scheyer was picked by Donald.
Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?
I went with Jason's team since I felt it had the best backcourt and the best balance of offense and defense. They are all great teams and I think if they played seven game series they would all go to seven games.